


Edelweiss

by elena82



Category: The Sound of Music - Rodgers/Hammerstein/Lindsay & Crouse
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-03-01 13:38:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13296027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elena82/pseuds/elena82
Summary: This idea came to me and I couldn't shake it.  Liesl idolizes and falls in love with the Baroness.  She's in Vienna with the Baroness when Germany invades Austria.  Her family has to flee without her so she stays with the Baroness and they fall in love (that's a teaser, doesn't happen in first chapter)





	1. Anschluss

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't bring myself to write "Heil Hitler"! That is why it is cut off

Liesel walked down the street in Vienna, assisted by the Baroness. Her leg had finally healed, and she was able to walk without crutches. 

“You’re certainly walking better,” the Baroness commented, as she tightened her grip around Liesel’s thin waist. 

Liesel smiled at her almost stepmother. “Thanks. Who would have thought little Gretel could do so much damage!”

The Baroness laughed, remembering how Liesel played with her younger sisters. They were hopping all over the yard, trying to catch her. Liesel stumbled on a branch trying to duck away from Gretel. Gretel tripped over the branch and her older sister’s leg. She fell on Liesel at just the right angle to make her fall and break her leg. The Captain and the Baroness broke up a few days later. Liesel was in agony and her father asked the Baroness to take her with her to Vienna because there were better surgeons there. The Baroness agreed. 

She and Liesel had gotten close on her visit. Liesel liked Maria but she idolized the Baroness. Her poise, her blond beauty, and her class enthralled the teenager. Liesel offered to take her for walks around the grounds and Salzburg. The Baroness enjoyed this and spending time with the bubbly girl. She even let her take a few puffs on her cigarettes. Liesel enjoyed one on one time with the Baroness without six other people around.

In Vienna with the Baroness, Liesel was able to relate with another woman in a way she hadn’t since her mother died. The Baroness was so calm, so poised but very smart. Liesel often fell asleep (assisted by morphine for her leg) as the Baroness read to her. Sometimes she woke up curled up against the Baroness’s chest, in her arms. She actually loved the Baroness very much, although she hadn’t worked up the nerve to tell her.

While her brothers and sisters were waltzing and singing around Salzburg with Fraulien Maria, Liesel had enjoyed quiet visits with the Baroness. The Baroness told her all about Vienna. Her father insisted she had been there but Liesel had no memory of it. If she strained her memory hard, she faintly recalled a cup of hot chocolate but that was all. The Baroness enthralled her, with her beauty and tales of high society. Liesel wondered if it was possible to be in love with her. Then she shook the thought away. She loved Rolf.

“Home sweet home,” the Baroness said she opened the door to her luxurious apartment. Liesel hobbled inside, leaning on her cane.

“Tea?” the Baroness asked. She switched on the radio on her way to the kitchen. Liesel sat down to listen. The world was changing into a scary place in March of 1938.

“The German Nationalists have marched into Austria after our Chancellor’s resignation,” came the announcement. “Austria has been reunited with the Fatherland. Heil-“

“Baroness!” Liesel screamed. “Baroness! The Anschluss! It’s happened!”

The Baroness sat down next to Liesel and took her hand. They listened silently to the news their country ceased to exist. 

“Father!” Liesel exclaimed. “He was so worried about this! He will never fight for the Third Reich. Oh, Baroness….”

“Haven’t I told you to call me Elsa?” the Baroness snapped.

Liesel stared at her, scared and pale. Tears streamed out of her soft blue-green eyes. The Baroness sighed and wrapped her arms around her. She kissed her dark hair and gently rocked her. “I didn’t mean to snap like that. I am just as upset as you are. I care about your father and brothers and sisters too, you know.”

Liesel wiped her eyes and smiled shakily. They listened to the news until it nightfall. Liesel rested her head on the Baroness’s shoulder. 

“It’ll be ok,” the Baroness soothed as she stroked her back. Liesel trembled under the gentle touch. She was terrified of what was coming.

Eventually it got dark but neither Liesel nor the Baroness got up. After a while, the Baroness said she had to go to bed.

Liesel got up and stretched. The Baronesses heels clacked down the hall as she went to her room. Liesel followed behind shyly. Sirens blared in the distance. Lots of shouting was going on in the streets below, although it was hard to make out the exact words.

After Liesel had her pajamas on, she wandered down to the Baroness’s room. 

“Baroness-Elsa?” she said shyly as she poked her head in.

The Baroness looked up over her book. Her blond hair framed her pale face and her eyes were very blue. Liesel though she’d never seen such a beautiful woman. She beckoned Liesel over to the bed.

“Get in,” she said before Liesel had even moved a step. Liesel hobbled over and slid into bed beside the Baroness. The Baroness set her book on the nightstand and wrapped her arms around Liesel’s thin body. Liesel lay her head on the Baroness’s chest. Her whole body trembled.

“I’m scared,” Liesel whispered. In the back of her mind she knew she sounded like Marta or Gretel but she didn’t care. This was a national emergency. Her family was in danger and she was too far away to help.

The Baroness ran her long fingers through Liesel’s dark hair and held her tighter. “It’ll be all right,” she lied. She knew it wouldn’t be all right. She had been Liesel’s age when the last war broke out, the war that had decimated Europe. She knew what was coming.

Liesel kissed the Baroness’s fair arm. She looked up at her with tear filled blue-green eyes and smiled shakily. “Elsa, I love you. I love you.”

The Baroness squeezed Liesel. “I love you too, sweet girl.”

Liesel eventually fell asleep in the Baroness’s arms. But Elsa stayed awake for quite a while. She looked down at the child sleeping in her arms and thought of what she had said to her father before she left. That she needed to be with someone who needed her desperately. Well, now she had someone who did. The Baroness was well aware that Liesel idolized her and she couldn’t help enjoying it. It was flattering. She wasn’t happy Liesel broke her leg, of course, but she thought of it as a blessing in disguise. Liesel badly needed some one on one time with an older woman away from responsibilities that were far beyond her years. Both had jumped on the chance for her to come to Vienna for treatment. The Baroness came off as cool and icy, but she was actually quite lonely. She enjoyed every minute she got to spend with Liesel. Neither knew how much time they would be spending together in the days, weeks and months ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short Chapter, slight AU from the movie and real life events.

 

   Liesel peeked out the curtains early the next morning. The Baroness as still asleep, but Liesel was antsy. She expected to see swarms of Nazis everywhere but the street was empty. She wondered where everyone was. In other parts of the city, she supposed. She wanted to go down to the street and see for herself, but she thought it might not be a good idea. She still needed a cane to walk.

    The Baroness stirred. Bright blue eyes looked at Liesel. “Away from the window!” she snapped, suddenly alert. “Now!”  
Liesel backed up, surprised. The Baroness had never yelled at her before. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just wanted to see what was going on.”

  The Baroness scowled at her. “Our country has been annexed to the Third Reich. That is what is going on.”

  Liesel sheepishly sat down on the bed. “Baron-Elsa-I’m sorry,” she repeated.

   The Baroness took her hand. “Are you worried about your family?”

   Liesel nodded. She couldn’t even bear to think of them. She hoped there would be a phone call, a telegram, a message by carrier pigeon, anything, to tell her they were safe.

   “Your father is the strongest man I ever met, Liesel. They will be ok. They know you are with me and are safe. I bet we hear from them today or tomorrow.” She didn’t tell Liesel that she and the Captain had discussed the possibility of the Anschluss happening while Liesel was in Vienna. Neither was naive enough to believe it still a question of if it happened. It was a question of when it happened. They had worked out a plan and the Captain gave Elsa a substantial amount of money to take care of Liesel with, even though she’d objected.

   Liesel looked towards the window. “Father will never join the Nazi forces. Never. He was worried about Friedrich being forced to join the Hitler Youth.”

   The Baroness squeezed her. “Let me call your father. I think it’ll help you both to know that the other is safe.”

   Liesel would have sprinted to the phone if she could have. She grabbed her cane and hobbled to the phone. The Baroness pulled on her pink bathrobe and followed behind her.

  “Hello, Franz,” the Baroness said in what Liesel called her professional voice. “Is Georg there?”

   “Hello, Georg,” she said a moment later. “How are you? Liesel has been worried about you so I thought we would call.”

  She handed the phone to Liesel. “Hello, Father. Is everyone all right?”

  The Captain assured her they were fine. Liesel could sense there was something he wasn’t telling her but she couldn’t figure out what. She was just relieved the Nazis hadn’t come for him. “We’re all fine, darling. Gretel and Marta have bad colds but other than that all is well.”

   Liesel sighed in relief. She handed the phone back to the Baroness and hobbled away to make tea. “Does Liesel need anything? Do you need any money?” the Captain asked.

  “No. She is doing well. But with the Anschluss, I think we make need to find a new doctor. I’m not sure if Dr. Weiss is Jewish, but the neighborhood sure is,” the Baroness commented. Antisemitism personally disgusted her but she knew she had to at least pretend to go along with things at the moment. Both the Captain and Baroness knew they could no longer talk freely on the phone.

   “Yes, I know what a pain that can be. Maria took the girls to Dr. Relles yesterday. He suggested we take them to Dr. Meir because he specializes in lung issues.”

   The Baroness cast a worried glance at the kitchen. “Dr. Meir? Are they that bad?”

  “It could be tuberculosis,” the Captain replied. “We have to find out. It’s best Liesel stay with you until everyone is healthy. She doesn’t need tuberculosis on top of a broken leg.”

  “She’s fine here,” the Baroness said. “I’m enjoying having her, actually.”

  They said goodbye and hung up. The Baroness sighed. Liesel was going to be devastated when she heard what was going to happen next.

  The Baroness and the Captain had worked out a code before she took Liesel to Vienna. Dr. Relles met the Nazis, the girls possibly having TB meant they were all in danger. And what Liesel was going to be most crushed about, Dr. Meir meant Switzerland. The Captain had to take his family and flee to Switzerland without his oldest child.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liesel is questioned about her family's whereabouts  
> Warning: Contains rape scenes

“Delicious meal,” the Baroness said to Liesel at lunch a few days later. The cook had made Liesel’s favorite Kasnocken, with strudel for dessert.

“My favorite,” Liesel replied as she wolfed it down. “Father would always have this made for me this when we were celebrating something. Or if he had bad news.”

Elsa sighed. She wasn’t sure when the Captain was fleeing to Switzerland but she knew it would be in the next few days. The borders were going to be closed soon. And there was no way that Liesel could go with her leg in the condition it was in. But she wasn’t sure how to break it to her or how Liesel would take it.

Their meal was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. There was a shout and rough boots stomping on the floor. Four Stormtroopers barged into the dining room. Two were young cadets and two were obviously officers. They were older with ribbons on their chests. All wore Swastika armbands. 

“What is the meaning of this?” the Baroness demanded.

“We wish to question Miss Von Trap,” one of the older Stormtroopers replied. 

“About what?” the Baroness asked harshly. “She is just a child. With a broken leg at that.”

“That is between us. We will take her with us and return her when the interview is over.”

Liesel stood up, pale but brave. She hobbled with her cane over to the group. The Baroness stood up. “Stop! I cannot allow you to take her!”

The two young Stormtroopers blocked her from following. Liesel was taken to a car and driven away. They arrived at their destination, a large grey building, a few minutes later. Liesel was taken to a room with a table and some chairs. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered from fear and cold.

“Please,” said one of the older officers, “sit down.”

She did so and he sat in the other chair. “My name is Lieutenant Kohler,” he said, smiling. “And this is Sargent Bauer. Where is your father, Liesel?”

“He isn’t at home?” Liesel asked in surprise. “Then I don’t know where he is.”  
Sargent Bauer slapped her across the face. She held her face in surprise and pain. “Where is Captain Von Trapp?” Lieutenant Kohler asked again as if nothing had happened.

“I don’t know!” Liesel cried. “He told me sisters were very sick. He couldn’t have gone anywhere.”

Sargent Bauer raised a hand again to hit her but was stopped by the Lieutenant. “Your entire family has vanished, Liesel. Like smoke in the wind. Where are they?”

Liesel stared at him in shock, her teal eyes wide. “My sisters are too sick! I have no idea!”

Sargent Bauer slapped her hard across the other side of her face. “This is going to get very unpleasant for you, Liesel. I suggest you tell us the truth,” the Lieutenant said.

Liesel held her face and glare at him defiantly. “I don’t know! Maybe they’ve gone to Switzerland! Maybe they all took cyanide. My father would rather die than join you!”

Sargent Bauer punched her. Not a slap this time, but a punch in the mouth. A tooth went flying as she cried out in pain.  
Lieutenant Kohler made a gesture. Sargent Bauer left the room.

“We are going to make this country great. Your father is going to help us.”

“My father would die first!” Liesel screamed. 

Sargent Bauer returned with two young men in brown shirts. They pulled Liesel out of her chair and pushed her back on the table. She struggled but they were too strong. Lieutenant Kohler pulled up her dress and yanked down her stockings and underwear. Sargent Baur unbuckled his pants. 

“Last chance. Where is your family?”

“Fuck you!” Liesel bellowed. 

Sargent Baur shoved himself roughly into her. She screamed in pain but he didn’t stop. The boys held her down with sick smiles on their faces as she tried to get away. He thrust hard into her, over and over. She shrieked in agony as her virginity was ripped away.

Finally he released inside of her. As he got dressed, Lieutenant Kohler asked again. “Any new thoughts on where your father is?”

“I don’t know! Even if I did, I would never tell you!” Liesel said. Knife like pain shot through her center, white hot. Her mouth still hurt and blood trickled down her legs but she would never betray her family. She hoped they were safe.

“Have it your way,” Lieutenant Kohler replied. 

The two boys flipped her over. She felt her rear being kneaded and spread apart. She screamed in agony as he shoved his penis into her anus.

“Any thoughts?” he asked. Liesel had never experience such pain. She would rather break her leg a hundred times. He kept asking the same question as he thrust in and out. His hands reached around her front and groped her breasts. Liesel wondered if she would die from the pain.

Finally he climaxed and came inside of her. Liesel felt like her insides were on fire.

Hours later, they hauled her out to the car. She was shoved out in front of the Baroness’s mansion. Lieutenant Kohler and Sargent Bauer laughed as they drove away.

Liesel crawled up the steps. Each movement was agony. Blood trickled down her legs. One eye was swollen shut. Purple bruises were all over her body. Her dress was ripped and she wore no underwear.

She pushed herself up the stairs with her good leg and arms. There were only three steps but it felt like three hundred. With superhuman strength she pulled herself up on the railing and rang the doorbell.

The Baroness opened it almost immediately. “Liesel! Oh my God!”

She helped Liesel inside and screamed towards the kitchen for a basin of water and some clean towels. She needed no explanation as to what had happened.

She gently lay Liesel down on her bed and began to wash her face. “Can these come off?” she asked, pulling on the ripped dress.

Liesel only whimpered. Elsa gently removed it, leaving her chemise. She wrapped her bathrobe around her.

“Honey, I need to check you.” 

Liesel didn’t reply.

The Baroness spread a blanket over her lap and pushed the slip up gently. Her blue eyes widened in shock and rage.  
Liesel’s legs were black and blue. Blood still trickled down from both places she had been violated. Blood also crusted and dried to her legs. She was so swollen it was no surprise she couldn't walk. Elsa needed to change the water because it got so bloody as she cleaned her up. 

Tears of shame poured down Liesel’s face. “Elsa. They…they…”

“Shh,” Elsa said as she gently scrubbed the her legs. “I know, Liesel.”

She finally finished. Liesel began to sob. “They want Father! They said everyone is gone but how the hell am I to know that from here? I told them I didn’t know where they went and they..they…”

She began to really sob. Elsa held her. She never felt so helpless in her life. She stroked the dark hair and rocked her. A servant quietly came in with a cup of tea.

When Liesel finally calmed down, Elsa gave her the tea. She took a wobbly sip and looked up at her.

“Elsa, where is my family?” she asked. Elsa sighed.

“We will discuss it tomorrow,” she answered. “Don’t worry. They are safe.”

Liesel collapsed back on the bed. She couldn’t argue. She just wanted to die.

Elsa lay back with her. Eventually Liesel fell asleep from the sedative in the tea. The Baroness held her all night.


	4. Ch 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liesel and the Baroness face harsh realities of occupied Vienna.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry this has taken so long to write, but I was doing research as I went. Researching life in Nazi-occupied Austria is quite soul shattering

The phone rang at daybreak the next morning. Elsa rushed to answer it, as Liesel had only just fallen asleep. Her young body had taken such a bruising that Elsa was sure she would need both sedatives and pain killers for a few days.

“Hello, Elsa,” said the Captain’s voice. “Just wanted to tell you we all got to Dr. Meir’s safe and sound.”

“Good,” Elsa replied. “But don’t call here, Georg. We are being watched. It’s not safe.”

“Liesel?” the Captain asked in alarm. “Is she alright?”

Elsa hesitated. She knew that if the Captain knew what happened to Liesel, he would want to come back and get her. Then he would be trapped. “They questioned her yesterday, but she didn’t tell them anything. How could she? I didn’t tell her where you went.”

The Captain sighed. “I hope this war is over soon. What if it lasts as long as the last one? Liesel will be twenty before I see her again.”

Elsa smiled at the thought of a twenty year old Liesel. “She can stay here as long as she needs to. Say hello to everyone.”

She hung up and went back to check on Liesel, who was staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. She turned toward the Baroness with terrified blue-green eyes.

“You weren’t here when I woke up,” Liesel whispered. In the back of her mind, she knew she sounded like Gretel or Marta. But who cared? She had just been raped multiple times. Her family was gone. She was allowed to sound like a six year old.

Elsa sat down on the bed and pulled Liesel to her. “I just had to answer the phone, engel. I’m right here.” 

She stroked Liesel’s dark hair and back until she calmed down. She knew the girl was going to be very fragile for the next few days. Liesel was going to need her more than ever.

Liesel looked up at her. “Elsa,” she said, “Elsa, where is my family? Please, just tell me where they went. Are they all right?”

The Baroness looked down into Liesel’s shattered face. Liesel just kept looking up into the Baroness’s blue eyes. Elsa smoothed back Liesel’s hair and caressed her pale face.

“They had to flee, Liesel. Your father just called me to say they are safe. The Nazis were going to draft him into the Third Reich’s navy. They went to Switzerland.”

The look on Liesel’s face was heartbreaking. “What?” she gasped. “They went to Switzerland? Without telling me?”

The Baroness held her even tighter. “They had to, honey. It wasn’t safe to tell anyone. Both your father and I knew there was a chance the Anchluss would happen while you were here and worked out a plan, just in case. You couldn’t travel with your broken leg.”

That was true, but did nothing to lessen Liesel’s heartbreak. She simply could not believe her family was gone.

“What about me?” she said, half to herself. “Do I go to Switzerland when my leg is better?”

The Baroness shook her head sadly. “No, angel. The borders are closed. Security is very tight everywhere and they are watching us. You are going to stay with me for as long as you need.”

Liesel sighed in relief. She didn’t really think the Baroness was going to throw her out into the streets to starve, of course, but she felt better to hear her say so.

Liesel began the slow process of healing. The Baroness had to help her around the house for a few days, for she could not walk well on her own. Men’s voices made her very jumpy. Even the male servants made her nervous. She needed to be around the Baroness at all times, especially the first week after the assault. 

The swastika was everywhere, a sea of red, white and black. Liesel was afraid to even look outside. There were Nazi soldiers all over Vienna. She seemed to see her attackers everywhere. Often she woke up screaming. The Baroness would hold her until she calmed down.

“You have to go see the doctor tomorrow,” the Baroness told Liesel at dinner one evening. “I think you may finally be ready to get the walking cast off.”

Liesel looked up, scared. She hadn’t been outside the house since the assault. 

The Baroness read her mind. “We will take a car. Everything will be all right.”

Liesel took a bite of her roll. She just hoped there would be no checkpoints, or interactions with soldiers.

The next morning, just as promised, the Baroness took Liesel to the doctor. Only her regular doctor wasn’t there. 

“Dr. Weiss is a Jew,” the receptionist told them. “He can’t work here anymore.” 

The Baroness felt rage surge up in her heart. She despised anti-Semitism. She loathed the Nazis for their persecution. Already she knew many Jews who had fled to either Switzerland, Sweden or England. Vienna was nearly ten percent Jewish. Soon it would be down to nothing.

The new doctor took Liesel’s cast off and she hobbled around, trying out her newly healed leg. “I’m free!” she said, spinning around. The Baroness and the doctor laughed.

“I wonder where Dr. Weiss went,” Liesel said on the drive home. “Do you think he is all right?”

“I hope so,” the Baroness replied. “He isn’t a pauper. He had the means to flee.”

Later that afternoon, the Baroness suggested they take a short walk. “Just to the bakery. It’s only a few blocks. We can get some strudel to celebrate you leg being better.”

Liesel glanced outside. The day was overcast, with a few weak hints of sunshine. She hadn’t even sat in the yard since the attack. But maybe it was time to start venturing out.

“Ok.”

They walked to the little bakery a few blocks away. They had to go slowly, as Liesel had to adjust to her cast-free leg. A few soldiers past them. Every time a soldier walked by, Liesel moved closer to the Baroness. Elsa wrapped a protective arm around her thin shoulders.

“It’s ok. We are almost there.”

They arrived at the bakery to find a sign in the window “No Jews or dogs allowed.” Soldiers sat inside, enjoying cake and coffee. Liesel looked at each one in wide-eyed terror but her attackers were not there. She took a deep breath and calmed down.

“One box of apple strudel, please,” the Baroness ordered. And with one glance at the anxiety riddled Liesel, she added, “to go.”

They paid for the strudel and left. All the soldiers in uniform were making Liesel jumpier by the second. She was radiating anxiety.

“The next time will be easier,” the Baroness said reassuringly. “We will go for a short walk everyday. You need to exercise you leg, anyway.”

Liesel nodded. She didn’t want to stay cooped up at home forever, anyway.

The sight on the next street made her reconsider that thought.

The Baroness stopped short and Liesel gasped. Men were scrubbing the sidewalks while soldiers guarded them and people laughed.

“What happened?” Elsa asked a nearby soldier.  
“  
Oh,” he replied in a bored tone. “Someone painted anti-Nazi slogans on the sidewalks.”

“Faster, Jews!” one soldier bellowed. “I want every speck of paint off this sidewalk!” Liesel nearly fainted. The voice was Rolf’s.

“Rolf!” she called. The Baroness tried to pull her away but she yanked free and scurried over to the scrubbing Jews.

“Liesel!” he said. “Go away. I am only supervising this scum. They painted slogans against the Fatherland so they can clean it up. Right, Yid?” he snarled at old man at his feet.

“Yes sir,” the old man replied, scrubbing even harder.

Rolf lifted his foot and gave the man a kick. Not as hard as he could have but not as lightly either.

“Rolf,” Lisiel said again, in stunned disbelief.

“Go away, Liesel!” he snapped at her. “I’m busy.”

The Baroness hustled Liesel away. Liesel could not believe her Rolf could treat people like that. Not her Rolf anymore. She never wanted to see him again.

“I can’t believe this,” she said to the Baroness. “I bet he would have raped me if his superiors told him too. Father was right about him.”

The Baroness didn’t know what to say. She knew very well that the Captain did not care for Rolf due to his Nazi leanings. He didn’t want his oldest child with someone like that, who would blindly follow orders without thinking.

Liesel sat down, dejected. The Baroness sat beside her and took her hand. 

“I know this is hard to believe right now, but things will get better. Wars don’t last forever.”

Liesel look up. “The last war lasted four years. What if this one lasts as long? Or longer? I won’t see my family again until I am twenty.”

The Baroness squeezed her hand. “I told you, you are staying with me for as long as you need. I’m not going to throw you out to starve. I like having you here.”

Liesel threw herself on Elsa and held her tightly, “Thank you. For everything. I love you.”

The Baroness lowered her face into Liesel’s dark hair and kissed the top of her head. “And I love you, sweet girl.”

Something Liesel couldn’t identify rushed through her body. The Baroness stroked her hair and ran her hands up and down her back. Liesel had never felt like this before, not even with Rolf. She tried to push the thoughts away and enjoy the Baroness’s caresses.


End file.
